Hasegawa B5N2 Kate Part 3

Welcome back everybody to part 3 of the B5N2 Kate project. Not a great deal has been done but it’s a good opportunity to describe the building and painting of the bomb.  As I mentioned last time, I tend to do these items before I start painting to maintain momentum and motivation.

I also wanted to post this as it’s my birthday today and seeing it’s a bit of a milestone this time (the big 40) I’ll be busy with other things all weekend.

On with the bomb, the two halves were glued together and the seam eliminated.  The rear part had the moulded fins removed and all the gaps filled with a mix of super glue and talc.  This gloop is a great filler as it can be dried instantly with accelerator, doesn’t shrink and never goes too hard like neat super glue, it also behaves just like plastic so is easy to sand and scribe.

The brass parts are sanded with a gentle sanding sponge to remove the plating and the parts glued together, I tried to solder the fin supports but they kept breaking off the the attachments are tiny so they ended up being glued on.

Priming is important when painting parts with different materials as it creates a good key for the paint but guarantees an even finish.

The painting was quite fun.  The body was sprayed with Tamiya Sky Grey and then the white and green nose bands were masked off and sprayed with Tamiya White and XF-5 Green respectively.  There are no colour call outs in the instructions which was a pain but a quick Google search revealed the answer.

Next up was the paint chipping, Vallejo German Camo Black Brown 70822 was applied with a sponge.

Now it was time for the weathering and a filter of AK Interactive (AKI) was brushed on and allowed to dry, this was followed by an oil pin wash using Abteilung Shadow Brown.  Any excess was removed with a damp brush soaked in thinner.

The bomb was looking good but we’re not there yet.  Speckling is a good way to add those tiny little dings, marks and staining.  I used 2 different tones, a light grey and a darker shade, the mix is make up and using a stiff brush the bristles are flicked at the model.  With trial and error, the correct consistency can be found as different dilutions can make different types of speckles.

The last thing was to use a graphite pencil to add the steel effect around the strap.

And here’s the finished bomb after a little bit of pigment to add dirt and ming!

I small amount of work was done to the airframe.  All the filler was rubbed down and the areas primed, scribed and riveted.  On the actual aircraft, the area underneath the canopy was interior green so using the all in one closed canopy as a guide, the area was masked off and sprayed.  It will be weathered at the same time as the airframe, but that will come later.

Next up is the undercarriage but you’ll have to wait until next week for this.  So until then, take care and have a great modelling weekend.